Moon flower cosmetics company executives are aware that their asian customer base is interested in advanced skin care treatments beyond moon flower's traditional herbal and organic compounds. moon flower and a large american chemical company are in discussions to create a 50–50 partnership in a new firm, which would create skin care treatments based on innovative chemical formulations that would be marketed both in asia and in the united states. beyond being a cross-border alliance, this partnership can be called a(n)
a. equity strategic alliance
b. joint venture
c. nonequity strategic alliance
d. horizontal complementary alliance